The Chicago Bears played the Green Bay Packers in a primetime game at Lambeau Field and got their doors blown off. It’s become a tradition at this point, no matter who’s coaching the Bears. It was Matt Eberflus’ maiden voyage into Green Bay as the Bears head coach and unlike most of his recent predecessors, he was unable to have success his first time up there.
The Bears took an early lead thanks to a punishing ground game, but soon fell behind quickly thanks the Packers own running game giving the defense fits. Green Bay relied on their two-headed running back monster of Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon and they carried the team to a 27-10 win. The Bears and Packers both settle at 1-1 two weeks into the season and the Bears will go back to Halas Hall to figure out how they can improve heading into their matchup against the Houston Texans next weekend.
As usual, there aren’t many positives from this game for the Bears. Here our initial takeaways from Sunday’s primetime loss.
1
Justin Fields needs to play with more anticipation and awareness
Call it a playcalling issue, blame his supporting cast, chalk it up to issues with his center, regardless of how you want to spin it, Fields must improve his awareness and anticipation when dropping back to pass. Yes, he only attempted 11 passes and it’s a fair criticism to point out that out as a fault of the playcalling when the Bears sputtered following their opening drive. But he had quite a few more drop backs than 11 and either took sacks, tucked and ran the ball, or even threw across the line of scrimmage that cost them a down.
When Fields did attempt passes, he seemed hesitant to pull the trigger more often than not. We don’t know all of what he was seeing downfield yet, but it will be interesting to learn what exactly was open in front of him. The good news? We saw similar issues in the preseason that got better as the games went on. But so far in the regular season, his internal process feels slow and that’s concerning. As he gets more comfortable in this offense, the hope is that speeds up quite a bit.
2
Luke Getsy committed to the run at the wrong time
I was enamored with Getsy’s playcalling on the first drive. The commitment to the run with a dash of trickery pulling out the flea flicker had the Bears moving the ball downfield with ease. So why did he get away from that formula for the rest of the half and immediately turn it over to the passing game?
Montgomery was a beast on the opening drive, yet saw just one carry for the rest of the first half. It wasn’t until midway through the third quarter that he became the focal point once again. If Getsy had stuck to his plan in the first half, more opportunities for Fields to throw the ball on long, sustained drives. Instead, it felt disjointed and the Bears were already down multiple scores.
I think Getsy’s commitment to the run was admirable and quite honestly, it was the right approach given the success they were having. But they should have leaned on it earlier to open things up in the second half to take more chances while also increasing their time of possession.
3
The lack of Cole Kmet and Darnell Mooney is alarming
The passing attack has been limited, but when it’s been unleashed, the Bears’ top two receiving options have been nowhere to be found. Through two games, Darnell Mooney and Cole Kmet have two catches for four total yards. They’re invisible and players like Equanimeous St. Brown and Ryan Griffin are easily outpacing them.
The Bears already don’t have the best weapons in the NFL, that’s been established. But when their best players can barely make an impact as receivers, it’s a huge problem. The thought was Kmet and Mooney would serve as security blankets for Fields to help bail him out of trouble. That’s been far from the case and whether teams are keying in on them or not, an effort to get them involved should be paramount this week leading into Sunday’s game against the Houston Texans.
4
David Montgomery deserves an extension
Easily the star for the Bears on Sunday evening, Montgomery was playing like a madman against the Packers. He was racking up what seemed like hundreds of yards after initial contact and showcased elusive moves to find more running room on multiple occasions. Montgomery had 15 carries for 122 yards, averaging 8.1 yards per carry.
His performance last week left much to be desired, but when given the rock on a playing surface that’s not an inch under water, good things happen. Montgomery’s contract expires at the end of this year and the Bears will have plenty of cap space to work with next offseason. I’m of the belief they should lock up Montgomery to a modest extension. Don’t break the bank for him or anything, but he’s an asset that can continue doing well for the team over the next few seasons. Paying running backs is an unpopular move in this day in age. But we’ve seen enough from him these last four years that warrants such a move.
5
Please stop rotating starting offensive linemen
This was already a takeaway following the Bears’ win over the 49ers so I won’t spend much time on it. If Lucas Patrick can’t snap, either start him at guard or keep him on the bench until can player center again. Stop rotating him and Teven Jenkins in a regular season game. It only creates problems for the offensive line.
6
The run defense is atrocious
The Packers gameplan was telegraphed the entire week leading up to the game. They were going to lean on Jones and Dillon to carry the load (literally) and get the Packers into favorable situations. They did just that, totaling 203 rushing yards on 38 carries.
Stopping both backs was next to impossible for the Bears defensive front. They were consistently getting to the second level of the defense, rattling off over five yards per carry. It’s a deficiency on defense that was slightly exposed during last week’s win over the 49ers, but was on full display this week. The defensive tackles cannot get bullied off the line and the linebackers need to do a much better job of wrapping ball carriers up, especially Roquan Smith, who was taken out of seemingly every play. Otherwise the Packers just gave away the blueprint on how to beat the Bears defense.
7
Kyler Gordon's career won't be defined by this game
To say rookie Kyler Gordon was thrown into the fire on Sunday night is an understatement. Gordon was targeted early and often by Rodgers and the Packers quarterback won the battle easily. According to Clay Harbor, Gordon was targeted 13 times (accounting for over half of Rodgers’ attempts for the game) and allowed 10 completions for 162 yards and a score.
Kyler Gordon struggled massively last night. He gave up 10 catches on 13 targets for 162 yards and a TD. He only forced 1 incompletion all night. Is it too early to get worried Bears fans?#DaBears #Bears
— Clay Harbor (@clayharbs82) September 19, 2022
The Packers wanted nothing to do with Jaylon Johnson, who once again went without a target for the second consecutive week, meaning Gordon was easy pickings. It’s a humbling experience for the NFL rookie and it will not define his career. It’s just his second professional game and perhaps the Bears can do more to give him help over the top instead of leaving him in man coverage.
Many are wanting Gordon to forget about this performance and move on. I hope he remembers it so he can use it as motivation to get better and develop. It can take time for rookie cornerbacks to catch up to the speed of the game, but Gordon has all of the tools to do it.
8
Trevis Gipson picked up where he left off in 2021
A bright spot for the Bears defense was the play of Trevis Gipson. He’s following his breakout performance from 2021 with a strong start to 2022 and the future still looks bright for the third-year pass rusher. Gipson had four tackles, two for loss, and two sacks on Sunday evening to make Rodgers’ life difficult. He also added three QB hits. He was consistently getting pressure and making Rodgers uncomfortable in the pocket.
The strange part is Gipson is only getting a handful of snaps. He was on the field for 23 plays on Sunday, which was 34 percent of the total snaps. Meanwhile, Robert Quinn and Al-Quadin Muhammad saw 52 and 39 snaps, respectively. Perhaps they see Gipson as a true pass rusher and don’t trust him to contain the run. But he deserves to play more snaps than what he is getting now. He’s showing his 2021 showing wasn’t a fluke.
9
We knew the Bears weren't going to be good yet
I’m not going to backtrack my predictions and say “I told you so.” Because I didn’t. I genuinely believed the Bears had a strong chance to win this game given the issues the Packers were facing and the unknown of playing a new head coach and I was wrong. The first loss of 2022 stings and frankly, any loss to the Packers will do that. We all felt the same sense of dread during the second half that we have become far too familiar with over the last few seasons. But it’s important to take a step back and remember this isn’t a good team yet and development is what is key.
The Bears are still finding themselves two games into the season and are, thankfully, .500 at 1-1. Expectations are low for this team and that doesn’t mean they can’t develop as the season goes on. It’s just important to remember this was always going to be a developmental year, even if the losses still hurt given how things shook out.
This team still has a chance to be 3-1 or .500 after four games and that would be great to see. But even if the losses come, we’ll be happy if the offense looks significantly improved over these next few weeks. Development is the biggest thing that matters with these Bears.
